Bhavinaben Patel's Paralympics journey ends in quarter-finals
What's the story
India's Bhavinaben Patel, who won a silver medal at the Tokyo Paralympics, was defeated by China's Ying Zhou in the women's singles table tennis class 4 quarter-finals. Despite a strong start and winning the third game, Patel lost to Zhou with scores of 12-14, 9-11, 11-8, and 6-11. This marks the end of India's participation in this category at the Paralympics. Here's more.
Athlete profile
Bhavinaben Patel's table tennis journey
Diagnosed with polio at just one-year-old, Bhavinaben now competes in Class 4, a category for wheelchair athletes with functional arms and hands. The 37-year-old is an Arjuna Award recipient and has won other international medals, apart from her silver medal at the 2020 Tokoyo Paralympics. Bhavinaben has won the gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the women's singles C3-5 category. Additionally, she also has a bronze medal to her name from the 2022 Asian Para Games.
Early exit
Sonalben Patel also exits women's singles
Sonalben Patel, representing India in the women's singles table tennis Class 3, was eliminated in the round of 16 by Croatia's Andela Muzinic Vincetic. The duo of Bhavinaben and Sonalben also missed out on a medal in the women's doubles category. They were defeated by the Korean duo of Young A Jung and Sunghye Moon in the quarter-final.
Medal tally
India's Paralympic team achieves record-breaking success
India's Paralympic team has already secured a record-breaking total of 21 medals, outdoing their previous best of 19 medals at Tokyo 2020. This achievement highlights the impressive growth of India's para-sports ecosystem, marked by the participation of its largest-ever contingent of 84 athletes competing in 12 disciplines. Notably, in the men's high jump T6 final, Mariyappan and Sharad Kumar won bronze and silver medals, respectively, adding to this historic medal haul.